 Euro
Decals 1/72 Handley Page Victor Decals
For some reason the Handley Page Victor has always appealed to me. The
old Matchbox kit, recently reissued by Revell, does a good job of capturing
the lines of this impressive bomber, although it does need some help in
some areas. But for markings, modelers have been limited to what's in
the box or some old Modeldecal sheets. To the rescue comes Euro Decals,
printed by Fantasy Printshop. This decal sheet, the first release for
this company in 1/72, provides markings for no less than twelve Victors,
spanning the entire life of the type.
The first aircraft presented is a Victor B. Mk. 2 of 100 Squadron at
RAF Wittering in April of 1963. This Victor, XM715, is finished in the
original anti-flash white with pale roundels and markings. To me this
overall white finish is the most attractive for the Victor, but also the
most difficult to get to look right, mainly due to the weathering challenges.
 If
you balk at the overall white, but still want to use the pale roundels,
the second choice might be the plane for you. It's XL513, a Victor B.
Mk. 2R of 139 Squadron, also from RAF Wittering, but this time in February
1964. It still has white, but only on the undersides. The upper surfaces
are camouflaged in Medium Sea Gray and Dark Green. While the wing roundels
and fin flash are in the standard Ident Blue and Red, the fuselage roundels
are in the light blue/white/pink as found on the overall white aircraft.
Definitely an interesting Victor.
Continuing the Medium Sea Gray/Dark Green over white scheme are a pair
of Victor tankers. The first, XH592, is a Victor B. Mk. 1A of 232 OCU
out of RAF Marham in 1971. This plane features the blue/white/red roundels.
The second Victor tanker, a Victor K. Mk. 1, XA936, of 214 Squadron out
of RAF Marham in January 1975, has the later style of roundels, omitting
the white portions. Euro Decals has included all of the dayglo tanker
markings as decals, making these a colorful option for modelers.
 The
remaining Victors are all in the Hemp/Light Aircraft Gray camouflage and
are all Victor K. Mk. 2s that took part in Operation Granby out of Saudi
Arabia in 1991. All are from 55 Squadron, and several have some form of
nose art on them, making for some rather interesting subjects. The aircraft
included are XH671 "Sweet/Slinky Sue," XL190 (41 sorties), XL161
(20 sorties), XM717 "Lucky Lou," XM715 "Teasin' Tina,"
XL231 "Lusty Lindy," XL164 "Saucy Sal," and XH672
"Maid Marion." Those with astute eyes will have noticed that
"Teasin' Tina" is the same aircraft that started out this list
of aircraft, providing a rather interesting comparison should one wish
to build a pair of Victors: the beginning in anti-flash white as a nuclear
bomber, and the end in Hemp and Light Aircraft Gray as an aerial tanker.
The decals are beautifully printed and in excellent register. They feel
thin and there should be no problems at all in going down on your model.
A small selection of stenciling is also included as a supplement to the
stenciling provided in the kit. Overall this is an outstanding decal sheet
and my only problem with it is trying to figure out where to fit the five
or six 1/72 Victors I'm going to want to build now.
My thanks to Fantasy
Printshop and Euro Decals for the review sample.
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